It's A Small Town
by 911Unique911
Summary: Beth is in her senior year of college, Daryl is the deputy at the police station. What will happened to these two when Beth's friends plan a spontaneous night that blossom the relationship of the two. The two who have known each other practically their whole lives. Let's hope it turns out well because you know... it is a small town... people talk.
1. It's A Small Town

**AN: Hello, just a reminder that in this story the is No ZA. Everyone lives in a small town in Georgia. I do not own any Walking Dead characters.**

Beth was sitting with her group of friends from college going over some notes at her and Amy's apartment.

"Tara I'm completely lost. I have no idea what to do for my Lit paper!" Amy exclaimed.

Tara laughed "I don't know hon I was having a hard time as well."

"You all need to destress! You're all so worked up and we're only 2 months into the semester." Spencer laughed rubbing Amy's shoulders.

Noah scoffed "Man how many classes are you close to failing from all of your destressing." He laughed as he was typing up some of his Chem notes. He was interrupted when Spencer swatted his head playfully.

"No you guys Spencer's right we need to have night out to just destress! Right babe?" Denise asked Tara.

"I'm happy to destress after we get these midterms done. It would be fun." Tara said researching topics for her paper.

"Wait guys that would be sick. I'm totally down." Noah said looking at everyone for agreement.

"You know I'm down." Spencer said giving Noah a high five.

"After midterms." Tara said staring intensely at her computer.

"That's right babe yeah I'm down." Denise said rubbing Tara's back.

"Yes please! How about you Beth?" Amy asked looking towards Beth who was laying on the couch of their apartment engrossed in her presentation for Speech class with her headphones in. "Uh oh we lost her. I don't know if this destress hang out can wait after midterms guys." Amy laughed talking to everyone.

Spencer looked over "Yo Beth!" he called to her "Beth!" Grabbing one of Tara's scratch papers rolling it up into a ball and tossing it at he head.

"Ooof!" Beth said when the paper ball hit her and she took out her headphone "What?"

They all laughed and Noah said "You're right Amy I think it needs to happen tonight." They all nodded and chuckled in agreement.

"What? What needs to happen?" Beth asked and Amy stood up and walked over to her.

"We," she said "Are going to go out tonight and destress."

"Oh no no no no no. No. Uh uh. I need to get this Speech report finialized and I have Bio- What are you doing?!" She shrieked as Amy took her laptop out of her lap, saved her presentation and closed it.

"Calm down hon, this is why we need this" she said setting the laptop on their coffee table. "Look it's Friday night and we're all here just studying, you know normal 21-23 years olds go out to nightclubs. I say we go to Moonshine and have the time of our lives!" Amy suggested to the group.

"I'm so down guys!" Noah said putting his laptop and books in his bag.

"Yes we all need this." Denise said putting hers and Tara's stuff into their bags and Tara saved her work and put her laptop away.

Beth smiled at all of them "I guess I don't really have a say in this do I?"

"Nope!" Amy said jumping up. "Okay I say we meet in front at like 10:30 and we live it up!"

They all agreed as they left. "I'll pick you guys up to leave okay?" Spencer said hugging Beth.

"Text me when you're outside." Amy said kissing him goodbye as he walked out the door. "I know I know, but seriously we've been working our asses off, I know it's been stressful but need to have some fun!" Amy said walking to the kitchen getting herself a coffee as Beth followed.

"No.. you're right we do need this.' Beth said smiling at her friend "I need to head to the diner for a second to pick up a schedule. Do you wanna come? We can go to the mall and get outfits for tonight." Beth asked.

"Hell yeah!" She said putting her coffee into her travel thermos and grabbing her purse and keys "I'll drive!" she said heading out the door. Beth laughed grabbing her stuff as well following her out.

* * *

They got to the diner and it we very slow. The only customers there were Dale and Jim co owners of the Mechanic shop in town and they were talking to one of the waitress's Jaqui. When the door dinged the men turned from their seats at the bar and smiled at the girls.

"Well I'll be damned look at these beautiful young ladies. How's school for you girls?" Dale asked smiling between them, Jim and Jaqui.

The girls giggled "School's school as always." Amy laughed walking up to them with Beth.

Jaqui chuckled "I'll bet. You here for a schedule Beth?" she asked.

Beth smiled and nodded "Yes. Is it up yet?" Walking behind the counter to check as Jaqui nodded sipping her coffee. Beth looked it over and smiled pleased with her hours as she always was and she took a picture on her phone then went back to the front. "Alright let's go before the mall closes. Bye Dale and Jim. See ya' Jaqui tell Carol and Ed I said hi!" Beth said waving with Amy as they left the diner to Amy's car to head to the mall.

* * *

Their trip to the mall went quickly and smoothly as they went home to get ready for this amazing night out with all of their friends. Spencer showed up and they all were outside of Moonshine. Standing in the line to get in the club. Oscar was the bouncer for the club. "Well, well look at all of these college kids! How are you guys doing?" He said smiling at the group.

"Awesome man how have you been, how are the kids?" Spencer asked.

"They're good, getting' big. You're mom doing okay? And you're sister Amy?"

"She's great." Spencer answered.

"Andrea's good thanks! They're both just super busy at the station. But they're good!" Amy answered smiling at Oscar.

"Good good. Well we have Karen DJing tonight and Axel in charge of the bar. Enjoy guys!" He said unclipping the rope and letting the group in.


	2. Moonshine

Moonshine is a nightclub owned by Merle Dixon. Merle has been living in this town since he was born and became more successful than anyone thought he would because of his deadbeat dad. Merle at an early age knew he was in a terrible living situation and needed to get out with his little brother Daryl as soon as he could. He made an oath to himself to not turn into that kind human being and everyone in town knew what he was trying to do and tried to help the best he could if he ever asked for help. Hershel, Beth's father, helped Merle and Daryl out with extra money by letting them help out around the farm even though he didn't really need it. He went to school and got a degree and became an entrepreneur and opened Moonshine in his small town, he couldn't ever leave this town and this club was something he felt the town needed and he wasn't wrong. Moonshine kept on growing and growing till it became a popular hot spot I the town and for the college students.

The group of college students sat at a booth near the bar.

Amy perked up "Okay who wants what? Babe Corona with a lime?"

"Yeah but I'll help you out. Noah same?" Spencer got up and asked Noah.

"Yeah man." He said checking out the girls in the club. Spencer noticed and chuckled to himself.

"Tequila sunrise for me." Denise said.

"I'll have the same." Tara added.

"And you Beth?" Amy asked.

"Oh uhm… Cranberry Vodka?"

"You got it! We'll be back!" Amy said wrapping her arm around Spencer's waste walking towards Axel at the bar and soon returning with everyone's drinks when Merle walked up.

"Well well, when did you all grow up?" Merle said sitting at their booth with them. "I thought Y'all were too busy with your studies to be hanging around here, you guys haven't been here since summer break."

"Yeah sorry man, but we decided we needed a destress night." Noah said sipping his beer.

"I hear yeah!" Merle said.

"So Merle, how's Daryl doing? Mom said she just gave him a promotion." Spencer asked.

"Yeah little brother is getting up there with Rick and them at the station. Said he was excited and ready for the challenge. Said they were all comin' out tonight so keep an eye out for 'em." Merle explaned.

"Wow that's so cool. Good for Daryl!" Tara said.

"Yeah, well there are some new comers here tonight. Gotta go make sure they keep coming back." Merle said winking as he got up. "There's anything y'all need just let me know. Take carenow!" Merle said as he walked away and the group saying bye and waving as he left.

"Well, I think it's time for 2 rounds of shots and we head to the dance floor!" Denise said and they all cheered and went a long with it.

* * *

They made it out to the dance floor where they were all having a good time together.

Noah was flirting with a girl that he had been eying at school and Amy and spencer went off to make out away from their friends because they knew that they would give them a hard time. Tara, Denise, and Beth were all hanging out and dancing.

"So Beth have you talked to or seen Zack?" Tara asked.

"No and it's probably for the best." Beth answered.

See Zack is Beth's ex-boyfriend of a year and a half. They weren't in an awful relationship at all, they were very happy for the most part but Beth found a distance between them and soon discovered in their last month or so of their relationship that he was cheating on her with someone else from their college. Beth gave him a choice and at first he couldn't decide so Beth made the decision for him and all of her friends gave her so much respect for that. She did cry of course but she has been focused on herself, school, friends and family. Right now she is so happy. Sure she misses him but when it came down to it if he didn't immediately say "You Beth" then she figured she wasn't worth her time. She was 22 years old she was allowed to have a little fun and if she met someone else in the process then it was a bonus. For now he is enjoying life.

"I'm just enjoying myself right now." Beth said sipping her drink.

Both of the girls busted out laughing.

"What?!" Beth exclaimed.

"Beth I love you, but hon all you do is work, study, sleep, repeat." Tara laughed.

"I mean… yeah but I haven't had a chance!" Beth said.

"Okay fine. Tonight is the night, we are gonna get a few more shots in you and we'll pick someone for you okay?" Denise said holding Tara close. Then Amy and Spencer walked up and Noah did with lipstick on his neck.

"Oh god, you all need to get a room!" Beth exclaimed.

"Tonight you're gonna get one!" Denise laughed.

"Wait what do you mean Beth is gonna get a room?" Amy asked.

Denise filled their friends in on the plan and they couldn't help but push Beth towards the bar, they were all having so much fun and that was when Tara spotted a hot guy at the bar. "Okay Beth you're drunk enough and I spotted your man!" she pointed at the hot guy, though they couldn't see his face they all agreed that he looked great from behind.

"Alright." Beth said downing the rest of her drink and walked over to the guy. Her friends couldn't help but try and watch as much as they could.

The guy was alone waiting for his drink. When Beth sat at the stool next to him. She gave him a slight glance, and almost screamed. The hot guy that they decided over was none other than Daryl Dixon, Merle's younger, detective brother. "Oh my god." She said out loud.

Daryl heard her and turned "Well, well Greene. To what do I owe the pleasure?" Daryl said smiling at her.

"I uh-" Beth stuttered "My friends are so stupid."

"Who Amy and them? Why?" Daryl asked as he got his drink from Axel "Thanks man." Axel said no problem and tended to the other people at the club.

"Well as you can see I am not the most sober." Beth said giggling. "And my silly, stupid, having sex friends. Told me that I needed to get out there and they said that they were gonna choose the guy that I sleep with tonight and we didn't recognize you from behind and told me you were the one." Beth laughed.

Daryl laughed "Sorry to disappoint you."

Beth laughed "I'm not disappointed." She said quickly then realized what she said and blushed.

Beth has known Daryl most of her life. He is very close with Rick and Hershel therefore he was around a lot growing up and especially when he was working on the farm, and was more around Rick's age who wasn't terribly older than Beth.

Daryl decided to not give her a hard time with that comment "So how's Herhsel, I was sad to miss the Easter lunch this year."

Beth laughed "You weren't the only one, I had a spring break vacation with Amy and them to Orlando, it was a blast."

Beth and Daryl were catching up and having a good time when Rick walked up with "Beth! How are you?" Rick said hugging Beth.

"I'm good you?" Beth said hugging back. "Where's Lori?"

"I'm good, she's on the dance floor with Rosita. I see you found this guy hiding form everyone." Rick said nudging his best friend. Daryl chuckled sipping his beer but couldn't help staring at Beth. Beth looked and smiled at Daryl and blushed slightly.

"Well I'm gonna go find my wife, we need to pick Judith up from your dad's."

"Alright see you later man" Daryl said. Beth said her goodbyes as well. Daryl and Beth continued to talk.

* * *

Meanwhile on the dance floor Lori and Rosita met up with the rest of the group. While they were catching up Rosita asked where Beth was and they told them what happened "And we haven' seen her around since." Amy laughed. Ricked walked up to the group.

"What's so funny?" Rick said putting his arm around Lori and thye filled Rick in. "Wait did you say that she went over to the bar to the guy?"

"Yeah?..." Tara said.

"Well right now she and Daryl are chatting it up." Rick told the group.

"Daryl?!" Amy said.

"Yeah! And they were making googly eyes at each other and trying to be slick about it, but I totally noticed." Rick said "Well we have to go get Judith, see you guys." Rick said as he and Lori left.

"I'm getting beat." Spencer said.

"Me too." Tara said looking at Denise who nodded in agreement.

"I'm gonna go see if Beth wants a ride." Amy said giving a little smirk and walking to Daryl and Beth at the bar who looked like they were talking and getting along awfully well. "Hey girly." Amy said walking up to them. And they looked at her.

"Hey what's up?" Beth said.

"Hey Daryl it's been a while." Amy said giving him a side hug.

"Hey Spencer here?" Daryl asked.

"Yeah he's with he others but we were just about to head out, Beth you want a ride?"

Beth was about to answer when Daryl said quickly "I'll take her back."

"You sure?" Amy asked.

"Yeah… I'll go with Daryl." Beth said to Amy.

"Okay, see you at home. See ya Daryl." Amy said walking away from the pair back to Spencer "Daryl said he'll take her home."

They all made a look and smiled.

"Noah, Rosita you need a ride?" Spencer said.

"Yeah thanks man." Noah said as they all were walking towards the exit at around 12:30.

"No I drove here it's fine." Rosita said finding her keys.

"Look there's Daryl and Beth!" Tara said. They all looked and the pair were laughing and smiling at each other. "I give it a week before he asks her on a date."

"I'll take that action, I say tomorrow morning." Noah said.

"I say 3 days." Denise said.

"I say tonight." Spencer said and they all laughed.

Beth and Daryl were having a good time just talking. Daryl was making sure she was drinking water to just sober her up a little bit.

"You ready to go home?" Daryl asked.

"Uhm sure." Beth asked a little disappointed he wanted to leave.

"Do you not want to go home?" Daryl asked and she shrugged. "Are you hungry we could go get something to eat."

"Hmmm" Beth said thinking "Uhm.. donuts?" She said smiling.

"What you the cop now?" Daryl said and they laughed he paid the tab to Axel and got up from his stool and he offered his hand to her "Let's go get you a donut."

Beth smiled and took his hand and they walked out the bar to his car. They drove to a local donut shop that was open 24 hours and they sat and talked for a while. Beth spoke up "Do you want some coffee back at my place?"

Daryl chuckled seeing as they were sitting in a donut shop that sold coffee but he decided to humor her. "Sure, let's head over there."

* * *

Beth was surprised that he remembered where she lived, but figured that it was because their families were so close and because he was a cop he needed to remember for safety. She let him in and was not remotely surprised to see that Amy wasn't there. "She's at Spencer's." Beth laughed not even needing to ask Amy to check. She walked to the kitchen to make coffee for Daryl and herself. Daryl followed. She finished making the coffee and they sat in her living room and decided to watch a movie on Netflix but still were chatting.

"It's getting a little late and I have at be at the station early." Daryl said a little disappointed to Beth.

"Yeah and I have class." Beth said a little disappointed as well as they both stood up and she walked him to the door and he turned.

"Do you think… I uhm… Can I call you sometime… to you know hang out when you have less alcohol in her system." He said blushing and chuckling.

Beth laughed and nodded agreeing, reaching her hand out for his phone and he put her number in and handing it back him. "There text me, call me anytime." Beth smiled and hugged him kind of tightly and he reciprocated the hug. They pulled away and Beth leaned in and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Goodnight Daryl." Beth said.

"Goodnight Beth." Daryl said smiling and squeezing her arm leaving her apartment.

Beth smiled a went back to her movie in the living room then went to bed.


	3. Word Of Mouth

The next day Daryl woke up a little happier than normal. He couldn't believe what he was doing or thinking. Beth Greene? He had seen her sort of grow up. When he was working at her parent's farm he honestly would always like to protect her. She just always seemed so little and fragile. But he couldn't deny that he did notice when she was becoming a woman. Though that was also the time he had registered for the police academy soon after his father passed. When he was done with all of that she was already and sophomore in high school and he honestly was just focused on the job and was happy he was doing it with his really good friend, Rick.

 _Rick,_ he thought, Rick saw him talking to, flirting with Beth… He was definitely going to get shit for that. _These feelings aren't bad, though right? I mean she's 22 now, old enough to make her own decisions. Hell, what she did to Zach, she's old enough to make MY own decisions._ He chuckled to himself remembering hearing how strong she was dealing with that prick. He checked the clock, he was up earlier than expected, especially for a night at the bar. He decided to just get ready anyway and stop by the coffee shop to pick up some stuff for everyone.

He drove to the coffee shop and Jesus was at the counter, reading, as always "Hey man." Daryl said.

Jesus looked up from his book "Hello mister cop. It's an early Saturday morning for a single, young cop." He teased.

Daryl chuckled "No man, I was thinking the same thing, but I couldn't sleep. Where's Aaron?"

"He should be coming in any minute n-" Jesus was interrupted buy the door opening and Aaron walked in.

"Hey Je- Well, well, well, surprised to see you here Mr. Dixon after your eventful night." Aaron teased walking behind the counter with Jesus.

"Wait, what do you mean eventful night?" Jesus asked looking back and forth between them and noticing Daryl slightly blushing.

Aaron saw that Daryl wasn't going to spill so he decided to. "Well, Dixon here was chatting it up with a little lady and left with her."

Jesus looked shocked "They Daryl Bachelor Dixon, had a little lady catch his eye."

"Yep, and you're not going to believe who." Aaron said smiling at Daryl who gave him a death glare.

"Don't.." Daryl warned.

"Beth Greene." Aaron said quickly as he hid behind the door to the storage area behind the counter.

Jesus's mouth dropped "Little Beth Greene?!" Jesus exclaimed. "You sly dog!" he said clapping Daryl on his shoulder as Daryl hung his head extremely embarrassed. Aaron came out behind the door snickering to himself.

Daryl's head was in his arms as he said "Nothing happened!" Then he looked up "How the hell did you know?!" he exclaimed to Aaron.

Aaron laughed leaning over the counter next to Jesus. "Eric and I were at Moonshine last night too. And we saw you two getting friendly at the bar and we saw you walk her out."

Daryl sighed heavily _If they saw it other people there saw it too._ "We were just talking, I drove her home, she kissed me on the cheek. The end."

Aaron smirked to Jesus "A cheek kiss huh? Did you wish it was more?" Jesus chuckled and looked at Daryl.

Daryl sighed again "Man I don't even know, she still had alcohol in her system. I gave her my number and told her we could get together sometime when neither of us were under the influence."

They both busted out laughing. "Dude you're such a cop!" Jesus laughed.

"What do you mean?" Daryl asked.

"All 'When you're not under the influence'. Man, that girl is what? 21, 22 now? She's a big girl." Jesus chuckled.

"Yeah, yeah I know but still. It wasn't just for her okay. I mean I watched this girl grow up. I need to make sure of myself too you know?" Daryl explained.

They both shrugged agreeing with that. "No man that's understandable. When you gonna text or call her?" Aaron asked.

"You haven't already right?" Jesus spoke up.

Daryl laughed "You kidding? Its fucking," He checks his watch "8:30 the morning after. No way. Maybe later though." The men behind the counter both chuckled at the bachelor. Agreeing with Daryl. "Hey I came here for a purpose, not to talk about Beth Greene." Daryl said laughing "Can I get the departments usual?"

"Yeah man, no problem." Jesus said as he began on the drinks with Aaron and they moved on from the subject of Beth and Daryl. Daryl paid for everything and as he left Jesus teased him saying "Hey let us know how it goes!" as Daryl walked out the door. Daryl walked out still able to show off his lovely middle finger to the guys as he went to his car to go to the station.

He wasn't gonna be as early as before but he only saw Andrea at first at her desk. "Hey." He greeted setting the coffees in front of her handing her hers, "Anyone else in?" he asked.

"Thanks," she said "Only Deanna." Andrea answered going back to her work.

Daryl nodded, "Can you give those to everyone?" He said

"Yeah sure." She said as he walked to his office nodding. "Heard you had a fun night though!" She called after him.

"Shut up!" He called hearing her snicker as he walked to his office and sat down at his desk, looking over some DUI files since it's been slow lately, which is good for a police station. At 9 Deanna called them all in for assignments for the day. Daryl and Rick were put on patrol duty and he was dreading what Rick had to day about his night. But they were 2 hours into their patrol and it still hadn't come up. They turned onto the street where the diner happened to be and Daryl noticed Beth's car pulling into the lot but tried not to draw too much attention to fact he was looking.

"Any ideas for lunch?" Rick asked.

"Uhm… No not really."

"You sure you don't want to stop at the diner?" Rick said smirking waiting for Daryl's reation.

Daryl groaned, "Oh now you're gonna bring it up?"

Rick laughed, "Hey I was gonna give you a pass until I saw you eying the diner, but yes we're gonna bring it up." Daryl shook his head. "So..?" Rick asked trying to keep his eyes on the road as much as possible but still wanting to see Daryl's reaction.

Daryl sighed, "We stayed later at the bar talking, I drove her home, we talked more, she gave me her number as I was leaving and she kissed me on the cheek." Daryl said bluntly. "No I haven't called or texted her yet." He added trying to answer all of the potential questions Rick had.

Rick laughed at his bluntness, "Do you like her?" asking curiously.

Daryl was shocked at the question, _do I? I barely know her… I… I would like to get to know more about her I guess…_ "I uhm…. I would like to know more about her." He said softly.

Rick chuckled clapping him on the shoulder "What a gentleman you are huh Dixon?"


	4. 911, What's Your Emergency?

Beth was on her last 2 hours of her shift at 5pm. It had been a consistent day for a Saturday. Carol and Ed weren't going to be in till around 6:30 to count the money, and to be an extra pair of hands for the delivery after closing. Tyreese and his sister Sasha where here as well as Jaqui who just began her shift She hadn't seen any of her friends yet, knowing someone had to stop by asking her about her night last night. Though she hadn't heard from Daryl yet, but trying not to dwell on it since he was probably busy. She heard the bell ding and say Amy, Spencer and Noah walk in all of grins on their faces as they sat at the counter. "Hey, what can I get you-"

"Cut the crap and tell us about Dixon!" Amy exclaimed.

Beth shushed her "I swear! I don't want to whole town to know!"

"The whole town already knows." Spencer said laughing.

"They do?" Beth asked.

"It's a smalltown Beth." Noah reminded her.

Beth blushed, "Nothing happened," They all gave her looks "I'm serious! We stayed later talking, he drove me home we had coffee we talked more and then he went home."

"You sure nothing else happened?" Amy inquired.

Beth gave her a look "Of course I'm sure!" she paused "Well, I did give him a kiss on the cheek but that's it!" They all laughed. "I honestly don't know how I feel, I'm just gonna wait and see what happens." Beth said honestly they all nodded in agreement. "Is that all you guys came here for?"

They all answered "Yes." Very bluntly. The four them laughed as they hugged Beth over the counter saying bye.

"I'll see you at home?" Beth asked Amy.

"I think so yeah, I'll text you otherwise." Amy answered. Beth nodded and said bye to her friends.

* * *

The day continued on for Beth when a man walked in and sat at the counter.

"Hi," Beth welcomed smiling and handing him a menu. "I'm Beth, I'll be your server today. If you need anything let me know. I'll give you sometime to look at the menu." Beth said smiling at him and nodding. The man just stared at her body over and grunted in response. Beth saw him look over her body but didn't comment on it as she took that as her que to leave and help Jaqui with a big order to a large family in one of the booths.

The man glanced around at the diner and spotted Sasha at the register in the front. He got up from his counter seat and stalked over to Sasha, she was about to ask if he needed something when he grabbed her arm and got really close to her ear and whispered "You're going to open the register, without any fight, put the money in this bag then take me to the back to your safe. Open that safe, and do the same. Do this quietly, do this quickly. I don't want to hurt you and I don't want to make a scene. Clear?" The man asked as he pulled out a gun from his jacket pocket pointing it at her.

Sasha got frightened and started to tear up as his grip tightened on her arm she finally composed herself nodding turning towards the register. As she did she caught Beth's eye gave her a look of plead, but that was a mistake because he caught where she was looking turned towards Beth and pointed the gun at her. The whole diner turned into chaos as they saw the gun. He then saw the cook, Tyreese try to come from behind the counter he turned his gun and shot in Tyreese's direction, missing and hitting some of the coffee mugs. "Everyone needs to stay where they are and shut the fuck up!" He said still pointing his gun at Tyreese as he stalked over to Beth and grabbed her then pointing he gun at her head "Or I shoot blondie here!" Everyone started to calm down and stayed where they were. "Good, good. Now let's not do anything stupid." He grabbed his bag from Sasha and pushed her in front of him onto the ground. "Now everyone put all cell phones in the bag and sit with this one" Pointing at Sasha "down here where I can see you."

Thankfully he forgot about Tyreese for a few split seconds as people were putting their phones into the bag. Tyreese pulled out his phone and called the station.

"Hello what's your emergency?" Andrea answered. She heard commotion and made sure the call was being recorded before she tried again "Hello?"

She stayed on the line and heard a male voice saying "Hey! I didn't forget about you, asshole! I said phones in the bag!" Her eyes widened at the statement.

On the other end of the line Tyreese got up from behind the counter and walked slowly. Knowing the station needed more information Tyreese spoke. "Sasha, Beth are you okay?"

"Hey I said no talking! Or I shoot blondie!" The man yelled at Tyreese.

Tyreese dropped his phone into the bag and going towards his sister, making sure the robber wasn't looking at him when he gestured between Sasha and the bag with his eyes. Sasha looked confused. As Tyreese sat down he lowered his eyes to his hand that was making the shape of a phone quickly before anyone noticed. Sasha caught on and sighed slightly at her brother.

"Now," the man said "Can forget about your phone blondie." He said with a smirk as he put her hands up in the air as he patted her down looking for her phone but taking his time around her breast and behind area. Beth had tears in her eyes but tried to be as strong as possible. His hands went around to her front into her apron and grabbed the phone. He held it up showing it to her then put it in the bag. "Good girl." He said grabbing her arm pulling her lightly closer to him with a tight grip.

"Please let us go!" A female customer exclaimed. Others started to plead as well.

The man got mad and pointed his gun at the ceiling and shot. "I said to shut the fuck up!"

Tyreese's call was still going to the station as soon and Andrea heard the shot, she didn't hang up but put herself on mute as she radioed to everyone "Calling all units, calling all units. We have a hostage situation at the Petelier Diner. Shot fired. Shot fired!" Everyone at the station went into chaos at the announcement.

* * *

Daryl and Rick were still on their patrol when they heard Andrea over the radio. They looked at each other quickly both knowing what the other was thinking, turned on their sirens and tried getting to the diner ASAP.

"Oh! I'm so stupid!" The robber chuckled "I'm gonna need all of your wallets." He grabbed Beth and pointed his gun at everyone one telling them to take out your wallet. "Don't be stupid now. I haven't shot anyone yet, I would like it to stay that way." He said continuing to everyone.

Daryl grabbed their radio walkie "Andrea details"

"Only one robber from what I can hear. He hasn't shot anyone but did shoot the ceiling. I think he's using Beth as bait, refers her to blondie, I haven't heard her though." Andrea stated.

Daryl's Jaw tightened "Keep us posted." He stated. "Call Carol and Ed! They don't get there until later."

"Rosita's already did. Glenn and Maggie are on their way to pick them up before they get there." Andrea informed them.

"Copy that." Daryl stated.

The robber was satisfied with all of the wallets. "Good you're all cooperating. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Thomas." He turned to the Beth, "Now blondie I'm being polite here, can you be a good gril and take me to the safe?" He said grabbing Beth's waste. She nodded. "Good girl." He said grabbing the bag "First you're going to lock the doors. Don't want anyone leaving, do we?" he let her go roughly. "Now, go on." He said pointing his gun at Beth as she walked slowly to each door locking it. "Now, you're gonna take me to the safe."

"I… I don't have the code." She said shaking.

"Bullshit you don't have it." He said pointing his gun at her.

"I have it!" Tyreese said quickly.

Thomas looked at him, then pointed his gun at him "Get up, and don't do anything stupid." Tyreese slowly got up. "You're coming with us blondie." He said motioning for her to follow she walked in front of him and he slapped her behind as she walked by. She cringed at the touch and sound of it, knowing everyone knew what he did. They walked to the back towards to the safe. "Open it."

Tyreese bent towards it when he heard the sirens of the cars and froze. "You pieces of shit!" Thomas yelled shooting at the safe. "Open it!" He said dropping his bag next to the safe. Pointing his gun at Tyreese. Beth panicked and tried to see who was coming in the cars. Thomas saw her move and pointed his gun at her and reached to grab her "Don't you dare bitch!" He was just about to grab her when Tyreese tacked Thomas fighting him for the gun. As they were fighting aiming the gun is all kinds of directions Thomas released a fire and Beth screamed holding her arm. Tyreese got distracted and Thomas hit him on the head with his gun knocking him to the ground when he heard the doors being opened and hearing Sasha yell to the cops that they were in the back. Rick, Daryl, and Shane all came in with their guns pointing at him.

"Drop your weapon!" Shane yelled.

Thomas quickly grabbed Beth from the ground and held her in front of him pointing his gun at her head. "I'll fucking kill her!" Beth was crying in so much shock but couldn't say anything, trying not to say anything stupid. When she felt Thomas' grip loosen and his body start to fall on her. Michonne had snuck in the back and struck Thomas on the head as he did with Tyreese not moments ago. Michonne then grabbed Thomas and put him on the ground to cuff him, Shane assisted her. Beth collapsed on the ground grabbing her arm Daryl quickly went to her as Rick went to check on Tyreese

"Hey, hey, you're okay." Daryl said shushing her then took a look at her arm. "The bullet grazed you.. Ambulance is on its way, you're okay." Holding her in his arms she cried into his chest.


	5. Im Gonna Be Okay

The ambulance arrived as well as Glenn and Maggie with Carol and Ed. Carol got out of the cruiser as quick as possible, "Is anyone hurt? What happened?" she asked franticly looking around. Maggie tried to calm her down, but still looking for Bath to make sure she was okay.

Michonne and Shane walked out with Thomas in cuffs. They saw Carol looking frantic Shane took Thomas to their cruiser as Michonne walked over to Carol. "Carol. Carol!" Michonne said loudly trying to calm her down. "You need to be absolutely calm before I tell you what happened okay? Can you do that?" Michonne asked her. Carol nodded and Michonne began to tell Carol and Maggie the jist of the situation as Ed and Glenn walked into the restaurant. Glenn went to begin getting witnesses statements. As the paramedics rushed to the back to get Tyreese and Beth.

Sasha was back there with her brother making sure he was okay and staying awake with Rick, while Daryl was still holding Beth as the paramedics rushed in. Two men saw Tyreese on the ground and tended to him, trying to get him out of there as fast as they could. The others went to Beth. Beth was still in too much shock to really talk to the men. Daryl then suggested, "Why don't we go outside for some air, then we can go to hospital to get you stitched up? Okay?" he looked at her for reassurance and she nodded standing but not letting go of his arm. Daryl didn't mind though. The other paramedics as well as Rick followed them out of the restaurant. Glenn noticed her walking but Rick gave him a look saying to let it go for now.

As soon as they were out of the restaurant Maggie spotted Beth and rushed to her hugging her tightly "Oh Bethy are you okay?" She asked then noticed her arm. "Oh god! You were shot!"

"It was just a graze Maggie," Daryl said quickly "She's gonna go to the hospital now though to get some stitches."

Maggie nodded and sighed, visibly relaxing. "Do you need me to go with you?"

Rick spoke up, "Glenn's taking statements and is still with Ed, why don't you help him? We'll go with Beth, get her statement and you two meet us at the hospital okay?"

Maggie nodded, though she wasn't completely thrilled, she knew Beth needed some time to cool down. "Okay, I'll meet you at the hospital okay Beth?"

"Okay." Beth said softly.

"Beth, why don't you come with us?" One of the paramedics spoke "We need to take your vitals and stop the bleeding." He said gesturing towards the ambulance.

Beth nodded heading in the direction. She turned and looked at Daryl. "I'll meet you there. Okay?" Daryl said. She smiled softly and nodded.

Rick smiled at the exchange, then turned and spotted Shane. "Hey!" Shane looked up "We're gonna go to the hospital to get Sasha and Beth's statements!"

Shane nodded "We'll meet up with you after!"

Rick nodded as he got into his cruiser with Daryl, heading to the hospital. "You calm her down, get her to tell you everything, then wait for Maggie."

* * *

"I'm gonna call Hershel." Daryl said grabbing his phone.

"I'm sure Maggie called him."

"Still." Daryl said, dialing his phone and putting it to his ear. "Hello Mr. Greene… I'm alright you?... Listen I'm actually calling on duty- No, Maggie's fine. There was an accident at the diner. Beth is okay… Maggie is on her way to the hospital in a bit… Do you want to come?... Okay, I'll make sure one of them calls you. Bye." Daryl said hanging up. "He said that if he went to the hospital he wouldn't be able to control his angry and that Beth didn't need it."

"Understandable." Rick said. "Here we go." He said pulling into the hospital lot. They got out, and walked through the E.R. seeing as they most likely but Beth in here and there was a better chance of them finding Sasha. True to their thoughts they saw Sasha waiting in a chair with her head in her hands. "Sasha?" Rick said cautiously.

Sasha looked up with tears in her eyes, she sniffed and got up "Hey." Rick initiated the hug. "Thanks. Uhm can we go somewhere more quiet for my statement?"

"Yeah of course. But there's no rush." Rick said to her calmly.

"No, I'd much rather do this now. It's gonna keep me from trying to get into his room." Sasha said trying to compose herself, she glanced at Daryl. "Beth is behind the third curtain over there." She said pointing in the direction of Beth.

Daryl glanced over and looked between the two. "Thanks." He said quietly then heading towards her curtain while Rick and Sasha went to the lobby area. Daryl pulled back the curtain and saw that Eugene was Beth's Doctor. "Eugene," Daryl said getting Eugene's attention. "Everything good?"

"Yep," Eugene said smiling between them. "She is fit as a fiddle, bullet just grazed her. Just a few stitches. You still need her statement?"

Daryl was looking at Beth, then looked at Eugene "Uhm, yeah. Are you done?"

"Sure am, gonna get her paper work in order. Take your time, she just needs to sign out at the reception desk in the lobby." Eugene informed them.

"Alright," Daryl said, Eugene started to walk away. "Hey, Doc." Daryl called, Eugene looked at Daryl nodding in attention "Who's with Tyreese? He okay?"

Eugene answered, "Morgan is his doctor, I don't know much though I'm sorry. They told me to stitch Beth up." Eugene said looking at Beth "Uhm Daryl?" he said nodding for Daryl to follow him for a second. Daryl followed and Eugene said "She's been pretty quiet. I think she may be in shock. Just a heads up."

"Oh, thanks man." Daryl said "See later." Eugene nodded and walked away as Daryl went back to Beth and sat in the stool next to her. "You doing okay?"

Beth smiled softly at him, "I'm okay."

Daryl smiled at her, "You up to talk about it?"

Beth sighed, "Might as well get it over with huh?" Daryl smiled at that and nodded. "Okay," she said. "Well the guy, Thomas, he came in and sat down. He looked a little weird, but I didn't read much into it. I greeted him giving him a menu and told him I'd be back to get his order in a minute or so. He looked at me up and down made a sort of grunting noise. I got a little uncomfortable and left to help Jaqui. I saw him go over to Sasha when she was at the register. I didn't see the gun at first but I saw Sasha get a little frightened. He saw me looking and pointed his gun at me…" She stopped for a second to breathe deeply. "Everyone got scared when they saw the gun and then Tyreese tried to jump him. Thomas pointed his gun and shot in Tyreese's direction but shot as some glasses and mugs instead." She stopped again.

"Hey, hey it's okay." Daryl said scooting closer to her rubbing her forearm. "We can do this later."

"No," Beth said sniffling "No, just get this done so I start forgetting about it." She breathed again and continued "Thomas then walked over to me and grabbed me, he pointed his gun at me and told me to calm down or he'd shoot me…" She sniffed again. "Uhm I guess he had given Sasha a bag 'cause he grabbed it form her and told everyone to put their phones in the bag." She wiped her face and sighed. "He uh... he then told me he needed my phone as well… and uhm… took it upon himself to pat me down looking for it." She felt Daryl tense at that. "He found it and took it. He uh, then remembered about everyone's wallets and had everyone drop them in. He then said because we were cooperating that he would tell us his name. Then pointed his gun at me again and told me I had to lock the doors then take him to the safe, but I didn't have the code. He didn't like the answer. Tyreese then spoke up saying he knew the code. Thomas made us both go to the back with him. He uh…" She paused tearing up again. "He.." Daryl looked at her expectantly, she closed her eyes and said "He spanked me while we were walking." She couldn't look at his reactioin and she was glad she didn't because his grip tightened on her arm even more. She quickly continued "Tyreese was about to open the safe when we heard the sirens outside. I-" she scoffed "I was so stupid. I went to see if… it was you… and Rick… Thomas got mad that I started walking then Tyreese tackled him. That's when there was a shot and it grazed my arm." She said looking at her stitched arm. "Tyreese was making sure I was okay but Thomas was able to hit him in the head, pretty hard with his gun. That's when you guys came…" Beth said finally looking at him again.

Daryl looked at her as well, "You're okay though?"

Beth smiled "Yeah I'll be fine. Did anyone call my dad?"

"Uh yeah I called him, he said he'd make a scene if he came." He chuckled a bit. "He said he'll check on you tomorrow. Was that okay that I called him?"

Beth chuckled "Yeah it's okay. My phone is considered evidence right now."

Daryl laughed at that, the curtain was opened again to reveal Maggie. Daryl quickly removed his hand from Beth's arm. "Beth you're okay?" Maggie said standing next to her.

"Yeah I'm okay." Beth said smiling at her.

"Do you need anything? Do you need me to take you home? Do you need me to call Amy?" Maggie asked.

"Oh, actually can you call Amy?" Beth asked. "My car is still at the Diner."

"Do you want her to come and get you?" Maggie asked.

"No, Daryl said he'd take me home. Can you just tell her to drive it back to the apartment" Beth said quickly looking at him giving him look.

Daryl was first confused, then he caught on "Uhm, yeah I'll take her back." He looked at Maggie.

Maggie nodded "Okay, Carol is in Tyreese's room. They're keeping him over night just to moniter his brain. Thomas hit him pretty hard."

"Okay, I need to check out though." Beth said.

"Glenn ran into Eugene. He's getting that done for-" Maggie was inturipted by Glenn walking up to them with a clipboard.

"Hey guys, sorry Beth they just need your signature for you to go." He said handing the clipboard to Beth.

She smiled at him "Thanks Glenn." She signed her named then handed it back to Glenn.

"I know you're probably sick of this question but you're okay right?" Glenn asked.

Beth smiled and laughed "Yes I am, and yes I am." They all laughed at that.

"Right I'm gonna go call Amy." Meggie said rubbing Beth's head.

"I need to turn this in then I'm gonna go back to Tyreese's room." Glenn stated.

"We'll meet you guys in the room." Daryl said. The couple nodded and left the little area.

"I'm sorry for dumping that on you. I just can't be around my sister or Amy right now having them pester me with questions." Beth explained.

"No, no it's fine I get it." Daryl said. "I don't mind at-" Daryl was interrupted by his walkie.

"Dixon, Dixon do you copy?" Deanna's voice came thru.

"Sorry I'll be back." Daryl said standing, "Dixon here." He said walking to a quieter place in the E.R.

"It's fine." She said smiling as he walked away.

She started to get up and go to the lobby when Eugene came up to her with a bag in hand. "Howdie, I was just about to go give this to you." He said handing Beth the bag.

"Thanks, what is it?" She said looking through it.

"Just a basic hospital shirt, I figured you'd want to get out of that one. Also, just your other possessions you had on you when you came in." Eugene explained.

She looked through it and smiled "Thank you, so much Eugene."

"No problem little lady-" Eugene's pager then started to beep. "Excuse me, see you Beth."

"See ya." Beth said as he left. She then went to the nearest restroom to change her shirt. When she came out she saw Daryl looking around, most likely for her. "Daryl?"

He turned to look at her, "There you are, so Deanna wants you and Sasha go down to the station, for her to record your statements and for other things."

"Oh okay." Beth said.

"We can still go visit the others for a second before we take you there." Daryl said then took a good look at her, "Did you change?"

"Oh yeah, Eugene gave me this since my other one had blood on it." Beth explained.

"Ah.. Okay, let's go see the others." Daryl said heading towards the receptionist to ask where the room was.

They walked there and saw everyone just chatting when Tyreese saw them he greeted them, "Hey guys."

Beth walked over to next to him and held his hand, "Hey, how you doing?"

"I'm okay, the asshole hit me pretty hard. Hard enough I needed stitches." Tyreese explained as Sasha walked tot eh other side of him. The siblings smiled at each other.

They were all making sure everyone was doing okay when Morgan walked in. "Evening everyone." They all greeted him. "How you doin' Tyreese standing on the side where Sasha was standing.

"I'm okay, a little sore." Tyreese answered.

"As to be expected, remember Sasha to be back here at around 8am for his discharge." He said then he looked at Beth. "And how are you doing? Heard you had to get a few stitches as well."

Beth looked at her arm, "I'm good, thanks." She said smiling at him.

"Good, good." He said looking at everyone. "Well, I have a few more patients to see for the night before I get home. Just wanted to check in one more time." He said starting towards the door.

"How's Duane doing?" Ed asked.

"He's good, focused on school. And Sophia?" Morgan asked.

"She's good thanks." Ed answered.

"Well, I'll see you guys around. Goodnight." Everyone said goodnight to him as he left.

"Uhm Beth and Sasha, we need to head to the station and talk to Deanna as soon as we can." Daryl said.

"Oh okay," Sasha said "I'll be back tomorrow." Sha said to Tyreese then squeezing his arm.

"Get some rest." Tyreese said.

She smiled at that, "You too." She said heading to Carol and Ed for some hugs as well as Glenn and Maggie. "You guys gonna get home okay?" she asked Carol and Ed.

"Yeah we'll take them back." Maggie said to Sasha.

Sasha nodded, Beth went over to Carol and Ed for hugs as well. Maggie hugged her super tightly. "Amy said she was planning on staying at Spencer's tonight. She said to text her if you want her to stay at home when you get your phone back at the station. She said you might want your space." Maggie explained to her.

"Okay, I'll text her when I decided." Beth said to her sister.

"Goodnight guys." Sasha said leaving with Daryl, Rick and Beth. Everyone said their goodbyes.

* * *

Daryl and Rick took the girls to the station. They walked into Deanna's office. "Hello girls. How are you doing?" Deanna asked.

"As good as we can be." Sasha answered.

Deanna chuckled a bit. "I'm sure. Well let's just get started so that you two can just go home and rest." She said to them. "Sasha let's start with you. Daryl, you stay with Beth, Rick you stay with Sasha."

"Yes ma'am." Daryl said, leading Beth out heading towards his office his walkie went off again.

"Dixon, you at the staion?" It was Rosita this time.

Daryl answered "I am, I'm with Beth. Rick is with Sasha in Deanna's office."

"Perfect, I have their belongs good to go down in Evidance." Rosita said.

"Copy that, Beth and I will go down." Daryl said putting his walkie away. He looked at Beth and nodded for her to follow. They walked to the elevators, he held the elevator for her to walk in first. When they were in the elevator Daryl brushed her arm and they looked at each other for a moment. Then they looked away both blushing slightly. The doors opened and Daryl led them to the Evidence locker where Rosita was they with a bunch of plastic bags with the wallets and phones from everyone at the diner. "Espinosa." Daryl called.

Rosita looked up. "Hey Dixon. Hi Beth, you doing okay?" She asked Beth.

"I'm doing okay." Beth answered.

Rosita smiled softly, "I bet," she grabbed a bag that had Beth's name on it with her phone in it as well as another larger plastic bag with her personal bag in it. "Sorry, we had to go through the lockers in the back and bet everything from it. But at least you have your stuff to go home with." Rosita explained and smiled again at Beth.

"No, I understand. Thank you." Beth said taking the bags from her. "How's Abraham doing?"

"He's good thanks." Rosita answered. "He's possibly going to be coming back sooner than we thought but we'll see." Rosita said looking between Beth and Daryl, she noticed that Daryl was looking mainly at Beth throughout the entire encounter. She smiled a little at that but wasn't going to bring attention to it of course. "Well I'm going to contact everyone best as I can for them to get their belongings. When you see Sasha, can you let her know to come down here with you or Rick to get her things as well?" She said placing the bags into a giant box.

"You need any help?" Daryl asked.

"Nope, I'm good thanks. See you guys." Rosita said leaving the evidence room, box in hand.

Beth looked at Daryl giving him a _Where to?_ Look. "Let's head to my office and wait for Deanna to tell us when you can give her your statement." He then held his hand at the small of her back to lead her back to the elevators, he then realized what he was doing and quickly pulled his hand away blushing. He was extremely relieved to see that she didn't comment or draw attention to it on their way back to the elevator.

They walked into the elevator and Beth realized she still needed to text Amy. She opened the plastic bag with her phone in it. She unlocked her phone and wasn't that surprised to she had many missed calls and texts form all of her friends including her brother Shawn. She saw a very recent one from Carol saying everyone could take the next few days off to recover while they replace everything that was broken and get the register money back from the station. She made it very clear that none of them needed to help and she would text or call them when they're ready to open again. Beth was very relieved, she could work on her midterms more and definitely relax. She decided that she needed some alone time so she texted Amy that she could stay at Spencer's.

"Everything okay?" Dary asked noticing that she was engrossed to her phone.

"Yeah." She answered "Carol just sent out a text that the diner is going to be closed for cleaning and replacing everything that broke. She'll text us when everything I in order and they're ready to open again. And I texted Amy that she could stay at Spencer's, I just need some time with people not asking me if I'm okay. I'll call of text my friends tomorrow and let them know that I'm fine." Beth explained to Daryl and smiled slightly.

Daryl smiled back but he could tell that she was really tired. "Sounds good." He looked at her again "You can take a seat, you looked exhausted."

Beth smiled, "Thanks, but I have a feeling Deanna will need me in a bit." She laughed a little.

As if on que Deanna knocked on the door and walked in. "Ah, had a feeling you two were in here." She left the door open and she stepped to the side. "Beth, you ready? Sasha went down already to get here things with Rick. She should be going home soon."

"Yeah," Beth gave Daryl an _I told you so_ look. "See yeah in a bit."

Daryl smiled at her as she walked out with Deanna. He then to his desk and went through his bag to change out of his uniform. He changed and went back to his office and checked his phone. He had a few messages, 2 from Maggie, 4 from Amy, 1 from Spencer apologizing for Amy, 1 from Hershel, 2 from Merle all of them about Beth and making sure she was okay. He smiled though, only because it was nice seeing first-hand how much people cared about Beth. He couldn't wait for her to feel better about this situation for a selfish reason, so that he could ask her out on a coffee date. He smiled at the thought.

Time must have been going by pretty fast because Deanna knocked on his office door again and opened it. "Alrighty, we're all good here." She ushered Beth towards Daryl. "Thank you so much Beth. You go home and rest now okay? Night Beth, night Dixon." She smiled at both of them before she left to her office.

Daryl looked at Beth, he could see the dried tear streaks on her face. He knew the whole situation was hard for her. "Come here." He said pulling her into a hug. She reciprocated greatly, sighing into the hug. They stayed like that for a good minute before he felt like she was relaxed and he pulled away saying "Let's get you home." He walked her to his personal car and drove her to her apartment.

She was getting out and asked him "Can you walk me to my door please?"

"Yeah, I can." He said smiling and getting out as well.

He walked her to her door. "Do you want anything? Tea? Coffee?"

He smiled at her and shook his head. "No, I'm okay. You should relax, and go to bed." He said looking at her.

She smiled, "Okay, I'll text you tomorrow."

He smiled at that "Okay." He pulled her into a hug and kissed her forehead involuntarily. Luckily, she didn't say anything to it and only said goodnight to him. He left and went to his own apartment.


	6. It's Nice to Be Alone Sometimes

Beth woke up the next morning a little sore in her arm and she had that wonderful moment when she couldn't remember anything. But she soon remembered when her arm throbbed. She checked her phone and saw she had so many messages. From, seriously, everyone. She didn't know how to explain how she was feeling. She was happy about all of the support and love and prayers from everyone. But, she was just so exhausted talking about it. Telling the same story to everyone. Telling them how she was felt up by the robber, how the bullet thankfully grazed her arm. She just wanted to forget as much as possible that it happened. She looked at the time on her phone. She slept in pretty late. She decided she should call her dad and Maggie to ease their minds. And probably text Amy to tell her that she's fine and to tell everyone else that she's fine.

She dialed Hershel's number and he answered on the fourth ring. "Hey Bethy, how you feelin'?"

"Oh, I'm fine. I just woke up and figured I should call you." She explained.

She heard him chuckle, "Well thank you. I know that you probably don't want to talk about it. But, I am here if you do." He told her.

"Thank you, daddy." She said smiling to herself.

"Well you relax. Rest, and you should call your sister." Hershel said.

She laughed at that, "I am after this. I'll talk to you later okay daddy?"

"Okay Bethy, buh-bye." Hershel said.

"Bye daddy." She said then she hung up. She then decided it was time to call Maggie. Just get it over with.

She called Maggie and she answered in 1 ring. "Beth?! How are you doing? Are you okay?"

Beth sighed. "Maggie I'm fine…"

"Are you sure? Do you want me to come over? Deanna would understand, no one else would mind!" Maggie said very quickly.

"No no no, Maggie seriously I'm fine. I'm just resting and relaxing today. I'm gonna do some homework. Seriously I'm fine." Beth said rolling her eyes at her sister's worrying.

"Seriously, I cou-"

"Maggie please! I'm fine." Beth interrupted.

Maggie sighed, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I know… I just.." Maggie tried to explain.

Beth smiled "Maggie I know. I know I just need to relax and try to forget it."

"I know I'm sorry hon, you relax. Just text me if you need anything okay?" Maggie said.

"I will, love you." Beth said.

"Love you too, sis." Maggie said hanging up.

Beth smiled as she put her phone down. She decided to text Amy now.

A

Yes I'm fine, don't feel obligated to stay at Spencer's. I feel kinda bad that I made you stay over there last night…

B

She decided to make herself a cup of coffee and figure out wat to do with her day, she was waiting for the coffee to brew when Amy texted back.

B

I'm not mad! I knew you needed the space. But I'm actually gonna go over to Tara's today and maybe spend the night there. We really need to work on that Lit paper lol.

Love you!

Oh and don't hesitate to invite Daryl over ;)

A

Beth rolled her eyes at her best friend and went right back to her coffee.

* * *

It's been 2 hours since Beth's gotten up and all she's been doing is working on her homework and watching Netflix. She needed to get out. She needed to do something. Something that didn't require her seeing anyone that would ask her about last night.

 _Hiking!_ She thought, she'll go hiking. She went to her room, changed her clothes. Grabbed her phone, headphones, keys and wallet. She got into her car and drove to the national park just outside of town. It was perfect. Nice and quiet, she could exercise and get yesterday out of her head as much as possible. She went on the trail and it was very calming. She thought about so many things, school, work, her degree, her family, and then her mind wondered to Daryl. Daryl was one of the few people who hasn't pestered her with texts or calls asking her if she was okay. She made her way to a bench which was the 4 mile mark. _Shit.._ she thought _I've been hiking for 4 miles? Go me!_ She smiled to herself as she sat on the bench. She looked at her phone for the time _2:00?... Should probably head back to the apartment and work on my presentation before class tomorrow._ She looked out at the view. She for some reason wanted to just let Daryl know anyway that she was okay. She turned and took a picture of herself with the view in the background and sent it to Daryl before the went back to her car to go home.

Back at the station Daryl was in his office working on some paper work her he got the message from Beth the picture of her. He smiled at that and texted back a smiley face back to her and went back to work.

* * *

At around 4:30 Beth felt super bored and was annoyed being at home and she decided to go the coffee shop just to seem like she was somewhat civilized. She grabbed her keys and her school work and went on her way. She was relieved to see that it wasn't very busy so there wouldn't be an awful amount of people asking her if she was okay or anything about the incident. She went to the counter, Jesus immediately went over to her and took her hand and asked "You okay girly?"

Beth smiled softly "Yeah I'm good." He got the message and let the subject go.

"What can I get for you lovely?" Jesus asked.

"Uhm.. Can I get a vanilla iced coffee?" Beth asked.

"Of course." He charged her and as she waited he asked her as he was making her drink "Any news on when Carol's is opening the diner?"

"I actually don't know yet I think they both wanted to just give us a day before they update us." Beth answered honestly grabbing her drink from him as well as a straw. "I'm kind of liking my down time a bit."

Jesus chuckled at that "I can understand that."

Beth smiled down at her drink when the door rang that someone walked in and she saw Noah and Spencer walk in and she smiled she felt kind bad for neglecting them but she knew they understood. Spencer caught her eye she smiled and waved at them.

Spencer and Noah smiled and waved back and walked over to her. "Hey B!" Noah said giving her a side hug.

"I'm good," she answered also giving Spencer a side hug. "Where are the girls?"

"Oh we don't know actually we just finished a class Spencer was gonna text Amy after we got a drink." Noah answered.

"Oh okay." Beth said.

Spencer and Noah got their drinks and they trio heading towards the parking lot while Spencer texted Amy about plans for tonight. When Beth's cell phone rang, it was Maggie. "Hey Mags, what's up?" Beth answered.

"Hey Bethy, so Rick and Lori invited a bunch of people to their house tonight. It's very last minute but they want to do a like family celebration for getting through the accident yesterday." Maggie explained.

Beth sighed, "Mags I-"

"No, no I know." Maggie interrupted. "He said he won't be drawing attention to anyone its seriously just a get together. Please?"

Just as Maggie asked Spencer showed Beth a message Amy said about the get together at the Grimes home she smiled and nodded while she spoke to Maggie saying "Yeah, I'll be there. What time?"

Maggie sighed in relief "Oh great! 6:30, I'll see you there! Bye!" Maggie hung up the phone.

Beth chuckled softly and shook her head. "So, I'll see you guys there I guess? 6:30?'

Spencer laughed "Do we have a choice," he looked at Noah then back at Beth, "Yeah we'll see you there." They started to walk t their cars. "See ya Beth!"

"See Ya!" Beth said getting into her car heading back to her place to get ready.


	7. Are You Going?

Daryl was finishing up some paper work when Rick entered his office with a knock. "Hey man, what's up?" Daryl inquired looking up from his work.

"Hey, me Lori were thinking of having a barbeque or something tonight with everyone." Rick answered.

Daryl looked confused. "What's the occasion?"

"Well," Rick explained sitting on Daryl's desk "Sasha called Lori and said Tyreese was tired of sitting around and that he wanted to see people and Lori said that we should celebrate everyone surviving this whole experience since it rarely happens."

Daryl looked down and looked up at Rick "You're not gonna do a whole ceremony and shit right? I don't think some people would be up to that attention." Daryl question while thinking _Beth would hate that_.

"No, no. Nothing like that, just everyone being with everyone." Rick explained.

Daryl sighed and smiled "Alright, I'll tell Merle. He can bring booze."

Rick smiled and got off his desk walking out of his office. "6:30 man!" He said as he walked to his own office.

Daryl smiled at this thought of everyone being together. A while back they just kind of agreed that we were all family since they all grew up together and knew each other very well. Of course, everyone had a right to their private life and everyone respected that but mostly everyone knew everything about everyone and we're all a family everyone is always there for each other. He liked having that.

He looked at this watch, it was time for him to head home and get ready for this little shin dig.

He got into his car and dialed his phone for Merle to tell him about the get together.

"Little brother! What's going on!" Merle asked when he answered his phone.

"Hey man! Did you hear about the Grimes' get together tonight?" Daryl asked his brother.

"Yes sir, I'm gonna close the club for tonight so we can all spend time together. Alex and Oscar are gonna get some booze together and bring them." Merle explained.

"Oh great, so I'll see you tonight." Daryl responded.

"'Course little brother. Wouldn't miss it for the world." Merle stated.

Daryl smiled at that. He knew how much Merle valued this family they acquired. "Alright, see ya."

"See ya, little brother." Merle said hanging up the phone.

Daryl smiled he looked at his phone for a second and considered texting Beth asking her if she was going. _No, no. I don't want to seem desperate._ He started his car and went to his apartment to get ready for this night.

* * *

Rick opened the door to his house hearing Lori talking to someone in the kitchen. "Hello?" He called out "I'm home!"

"In the kitchen!" Lori called back.

Rick entered the kitchen and was pleasantly surprised to see Carol, Ed and Jaqui all in his kitchen with Judith in her high chair. "Well hello to everyone." He said giving Lori a kiss on the cheek and kissing Judith on the head then hugging everyone. "How are the repairs going?"

"Good, good." Ed answered "Thanks to the insurance and Dale's workers the diner should be open after this weekend and we'll be back in business. We're gonna tell Beth, Tyreese and Sasha tonight and well everyone else."

"Oh good that's great." Rick said.

"Oh we're so excited for tonight the kids are excited too." Carol stated.

"Yeah everyone seems to be. Speaking of, where are the hormonal ones?" Rick asked looking between them.

Everyone chuckled at that very true statement about their kids, "They're at the Anderson's." Carol answered.

"All of them?" Rick asked.

"Yeup Patrick too." Lori said.

Rick nodded at the statement and smiled knowing that at least Carl won't moan about being the only teenager at an event for at least this one night. "So what do we need to get ready?" He asked his wife.

"Uhm.. actually we just need to set up everything in the yard. Everyone I've talked to is actually bringing food and drinks and everything. It's so sweet." Lori said looking at everyone.

"It is. I'm so blessed to be in this family with everyone." Jaqui said.

"So are we hun." Lori said squeezing her arm. "Let's get started, we got a big family coming."

They all nodded and got to work getting the yard and house ready for the night.


	8. Shin Dig, Part 1

Amy was waiting in the living room for Beth looking at her watch. "Beth I'm gonna leave without you if you don't come out!" she called to Beth.

"I'm just getting my shoes on! Calm down!" Beth laughed "The others haven't even asked where we are!"

Amy rolled her eyes and went to grab her keys as Beth came out of her room. Amy turned to her "Finally! Let's go! I'm starving!" she said to Beth.

Beth smiled, never get between Amy and her meal. They got into Amy's car and headed to the Grimes' home, people have certainly arrived already, parking was a little difficult but they got it.

They decided to go straight to the backyard where sure enough most of the people were gathering. Lori caught Beth's attention "Beth!" Lori said walking over to her and hugging Beth and Amy. "How are you girls? School going okay?"

"School is school." Amy laughed.

Lori laughed as well at the comment, "Ain't that the truth, so we have some of the guys grilling up some food, a few people are inside making drinks. If you don't want anything with alcohol the cooler is by the hose. Just make yourselves comfortable but try and find a seat outside within an hour okay?" Lori explained.

Beth and Amy looked confused at one another, "Why what's going on?" Beth asked.

"Oh nothing hun, nothing bad I swear." Lori smiled, "Just trust me, okay?"

Beth shrugged and smiled saying "Okay." Lori nodded and went off to mingle with more of her guests while the girls decided they needed a drink of some kind before they ate and went inside. They were greeted by Merle, Axel, Oscar, Tyrese and Sasha. "Hey guys!" Beth said while she and Amy gave everyone hugs. "How are you doing?" Beth asked Tyreese when she got to him last.

"I'm doing just fine." Tyreese said with a smile.

Sasha smiled, "Yep, he's doing great."

"Where's Karen?" Amy asked.

"Oh I think she's outside talking with Jaqui." Tyreese explained. "She was so happy about seeing everyone tonight and she told me she was going to mingle as much as she could."

Merle laughed, "You got a feisty one there, don't cha?" patting Tyreese on the back.

Tyreese chuckled, "Yeah man but I wouldn't trade her for the world." Tyreese said looking at Merle with a smile. "Speaking of which, when are you gonna settle down with a nice lady?"

Oscar laughed very hard mixing his margarita "We have been asking him that for the past 15 years and all we've gotten is-"

"Who needs a lady when you family and great business." Axel and Oscar said in unison and everyone laughed.

"Ahhh, I don't need a lady." Merle explained sipping his beer. "No I'm quite happy with the life I'm living now." Merle continued, "The only person I need to concern myself with getting a lady is Daryl."

Everyone sighed and nodded in agreement. Amy gave Beth a knowing smiled and nudged her discreetly. Beth rolled her eyes and looked over at Merle who was smiling at her and winking giving her a nod of knowing. Beth got very embarrassed and straightened up . Amy silently chuckled at her best friend then looked at Axel and Oscar, "So what are you guys making?"

* * *

Meanwhile outside Rick was drinking a beer chatting with Bob and Shane when he spotted Daryl walking towards him, "Hey man! You made it!" Rick called out to Daryl.

Daryl smiled and shook his head, "Shut up, hey guys what's going on?"

"Not much," Bob said. "Just chillin' talking about work." The other men nodded in agreement as Lori walked over with Andrea.

"Hello boys, how's the food coming?" Lori asked giving Rick a kiss on the cheek.

"Not too shabby if I do say so myself." Rick said smirking at her.

Everyone chuckled as Spencer went over to the crowd as well, "Hey guys," he said shaking Rick, Daryl, Bob and Shane's hands "Ladies," he added giving Andrea a hug as well as Lori. "This a great get together. Noah said he was sorry he couldn't make it, I just dropped him off at the train station to his parents but they haven't seen him in a while and they won't be able to each other for the holidays. It was very last minute."

"Why thank you Spencer, your mom and dad seem to be enjoying it. I completely understand, tell him not to worry, this is what this gathering is all about." Lori said nodding over to Spencer's parents who are now chatting with a just arriving Hershel and Petunia.

Spencer looked over and smiled "Oh yeah, they were very excited."

"Yeah Amy looked happy to see everyone too." Lori said to Spencer.

"Yeah she was happy to come too," Spencer said, "Do you happened to know where she is? Rosita and all of them said they haven't seen her yet."

"Oh yeah," Lori said pointing to the house, "She's in the kitchen with Beth getting a drink. There were other people in there so I think they just got caught up."

Spencer looked over to the house and smiled, "Thanks, see ya in a bit." Spencer said as he started towards the house.

"Oh! And Spencer!" Lori said stopping him for a moment "Remind all of them to be outside in a seat in 30 minutes!" Spencer nodded and headed over to the house.

Shane laughed sipping his beer, "That boy is whipped." Everyone laughed at that, "Who wants to bet he already has a ring."

Andrea swatted Shane "Shut up!" she said, "They're happy and in love, let them be!"

Everyone smiled and shrugged and Daryl broke the silence saying "I'm gonna go get a beer." He nodded to everyone and walked towards the house as well.

"Now he's whipped." Rick said. This time Lori swatted Rick rolling her eyes, "What? He's in love." Rick said mimicking Andrea and everyone laughed.

* * *

In the kitchen everyone was laughing about a joke Merle just told when Spencer walked in, "Hey guys." He said walking over to Amy putting his arm around her and giving her a kiss on the head.

"Awe…" Merle said in a funny voice. "When are you two gonna end up shacking up?"

Amy got very embarrassed and looked towards Beth when Spencer spoke up chuckling at his girlfriend of 3 years, "We're working on it." He said laughing "It's not us it's our-"

"Woah woah woah, it's not my fault!" Beth interjected defensively and everyone laughed as she took a sip of her martini. "Noah won't get his shit together and just move in with me."

Everyone chuckled, including the couple, at the truth of the statement when Daryl walked in and Merle perked up even more walking over to his brother, "Little brother!" he said clapping him on the back. "You need a beer!" He stated as if reading Daryl's mind.

Daryl smiled at his brother, "You know me too well man. Hey guys." Everyone greeted him. He nodded and smiled at all of his friends and he saw Beth and smiled a little bit bigger. Merle noticed but didn't say anything as he handed his brother a beer. "Thanks man." He said opening it and standing a little closer to Beth but not terribly so he wouldn't seem creepy or desperate.

"Oh," Spencer said ending the awkward pause. "Lori wanted me to remind everyone that we need to be outside soon."

"Oh yeah," Amy said remembering, "What do you think it's all about?" She asked as everyone grabbed there drinks and started to head outside and find seats.

"No idea." Beth said. She looked at Daryl and gave him a small smile. Daryl smiled back at her and followed her outside with everyone else.

Tara immediately saw them "Hey guys!" she exclaimed grabbing Denise's attention towards their friends as well. "We just got here and were immediately told to grab a seat." Tara explained to everyone.

Beth noticed someone in the corner of her eye, "I will be right back." Beth said to her friends and nodded over to Hershel and Petunia. Everyone nodded understanding. Beth walked over and put her hand on her father's shoulder as well as Petunia's. "Hello." Beth greeted, giving them small hugs.

"Hello Bethy." Hershel said, "When did you get here?"

Beth blushed in embarrassment "I've been here for over an hour actually, in the kitchen." Beth told them sheepishly.

"Oh hun," Hershel said chuckling "It's okay." He looked over to Petunia and said "It's not like we went looking anyway." They all laughed at that. "Now, go be with your friends." Hershel said sending her off.

Beth smiled at her father, and went back to her friends and was surprised that Daryl was still sitting with them and had a seat open for her between him and Amy. Though she was surprised she was really happy and took her seat smiling at him and blushed when he smiled back. Her attention immediately went to Carol and Ed who started to stand up and get everyone's attention.


End file.
